Automobile control



Nov. 8, 1932,

AUTOMOBILE CONTROL med July "29. 1926 2 Sheets -Sheet 1 Aow 65m? INVENTOR ATTORNEY Nov. 8, 1932. J. soon 1,886,672

AUTOMOBILE conrnoi.

Filed July 29, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Nov. 8,

UNITED s'rA'rss PATENT JOE! GOOD, ()3

GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO G001) INVENTIONS 9! new YORK, N. Y A CORPORATION OF NEW YOEK AUTOHDBIEE GONTROL Application filed! July 29,

The object of the invention is to facilitate the operation of driving automobiles and is accomplished bythe provision or means for insuring an appropriate engine speed under 5 certain conditions whereby less attention to the engine is required of the driver and more I attention can therefore be iven by him to the general management 0? the cor. 'lhe invention can be applied to any of the exist ing tyyes of automobiles propellerl by internel combustion engines, and in a great veriety of forms difiering widely among themselves as to their structure end their mode of application to the mechanism of the entomobile.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is s side elevation of e conventional automobile power plant onol its power trons mission mechanism incorporating the inv tion in one of its several forms,

Fig. 2 larger scale plan of e. rection of the gear-set thereof.

3 e rleteil of o. modifieci i'ornn enol Fi s. 1c and l are further modifications describes below.

Rei'errineto Fig. 1, the engine throttle i connectea by its crank arm 2 one throttle reel 3, to e throttle lever 4, which may he iisnelly is 8. foot pedal, as shown, sornetin called the accelerator, its function being; control the fuel admission to the engine nsnsl hence the sneed oi the cor. which is shown as epplieol to the leserves to close the throttle when driver removes his foot irons the pedal such closure takes place only to extent by the throttle abutment screw 5 which is carrierihy the throttle crnnli and strikes against the carburetor connection flange or some other relatively fixed member. The screw 5 is commonly collect the idling adjustment since its position determines the speed at which the engine runs when not nsecl i'or propellin. the cor. This is is common on rengement 0 engine control but, within this invention, it me be substituted by any other means for estab. ishin "a minimum incl sngpply and a correspon ing idling adjustment of the engine. The engine is also provided with a clutch pedal 6 and with c yer-set ver e 192s. Serial in. 135,648. I

encl shift lever "Z whereby it can he connect oi in diii'erent cirive ratios to the pi opeller shaft 8 which drives the vehicle wheels. These parts are indicetecl in conventionci form and are likewise subject to substitution loy other forms. The gear-set or changespeezi mechanism marked 9, includes the us nel pair of shifter-fork hers, 10 end 10*, adopted to be selectively reciprocoteri by manipulation of the shift lever 7 so as to establish the difierent (lrive ratios. The goers themselves are not shown as the operotion of this type of mechanism is well lmown, lit may he essnmeei that the forward position of the shifter bar it), puts the tronsmission in low near and the reerwerd position re verse the intermediate vor -mi&clle por cn losing neutral, and that the similer h r iii similarly establishes the intermediate hioh gear settings.

in eccorclance with this invention some rnemher oi the automobile mechanism example one of the shifter-fork hers is correlated with the engine spew control moon's so as to suspend or interrupt the function of the throttle limiting device which "E rep-= resented in the present case by the screw 5, and thus establish a difierent engine s e-eel when the throttle peiiel is releoserl. present cese a. coin notch i1 is formed in the top or the her it) to coect with o heerine" screw 12 cerrieel in one arm of a hell cross-s lever l3, the other arm of which is connecte& e push rorl 1% extending to the engine throttle or to some member loy which the ciosing movement of the throttle can he The spring 18. which may he connected at any convenient point, cross the hearing screw 12 toward the shifter oer. When the her is in neutral the notch registers with the screw as shown in Fig. 1 and the 8 ring holds cool of the posh rod 1& out of t e normal path or thethrottle crank. When the shifter her is in either of its other 14- is advanced and ei' er enge s the throttie orenl: 2 to open the thrott e slightly or else prevents it from closine to the extent set by the limit screw 5, accor in to the throt tie position at the time of cienge. Thus while the bar is set either-in low or regositions, the push noel law verse, the engine is prevented from diminishing its speed to the same extent as permitted at other times. The effect of this auxiliary minimum limit device is to perform automatically the same process which the driver most otherwise perform by hand or foot, whenever he starts the car 1n motion,

that is to say, the speeding up of the engine in order to avoid stalling it by the load of starting. The minimum speed permitted by the advanced push rod is predetermined as by adjusting the screw 12 so as to accommodate the average starting load, and thus the driver, having made a gear-setting, may close the clutch at once without removing his foot from the brake pedal or adjusting the hand throttle. It will be apparent that the eifort of operating the car is by so much facilitated.

In the preferred form of Fig. 3, the fuel supply control associated with the change speed mechanism is so correlated to the clutch controlling pedal. that the increase of the speed, appropriate to the setting of saidmechanism, is made efi'ective during clutch closing. In this form the shifter fork bar 10 is provided with a cam recess 11 as before, engaging a round nosed plunger 19 acting by its upper end on a spring push rod holder20. The end of the push rod 21 is slidably held by the holder 20 and its forward end is connected to open the throttle as by butting against the arm 21 which is secured to the throttle rod 3. The throttle crank 22, carries, as before,

. the throttle abutment screw 23 for adjusting its most closed or idling position. When the gear set lever is put in first or reverse position, the link holder 20 is raised by the plunger 19 to the osition indicated in full lines, wherein it raises the push rod to a position in which it is engaged and advanced by the stub arm 24 carried on the clutch shaft when the clutch is allowed to close. This opens the throttle enough to increase the engine speed as much as necessary to accommodate the particular work to bedone, and this higher minimum speed limit is effective so long as the gear lever remains in the position stated and the clutch closed. The clutch dal is of course depressed when the gear-shift lever is being ad usted so that the clutch arm 24 and the push rod do not strike in the wrong position.

The invention includes also the control of the engine speed by the second or intermediate speed adjustment of the gear set, as for example, by means of the shifter bar 10, used for establishing that setting, it being very common to start cars in second gear.

On such occasions increase ofv the engine speed is deslrable because the starting load is even greater than it is 1n first or reverse, and

- this extension of the invention is easily car ried out by applying a similar but longer cam notch such as 10 (in Fig. 2) which is connected to the bell crank 13 to rock it forwardly when in intermediate position but not when in neutral or high gear.

But the invention is not limited to the speeding up of the engine merely when starting the car, for it will be observed that on any change from a higher to a lower speed ratio, as from high to intermediate, or intermediate to low, an lncreased engine speed is generally necessary to permit the gear teeth to mesh easily and this is produced by thespeed-up means above described without attention on the part of the driver. It will be understood, also, that broadly considered, it is not material how the change is brought about so long as the higher minimum limitation does not obtain when the car is in high gear, or when the lower minimum limit is not likely to result in stalling the engine. The engine speed, that is needed for starting or gear shifting is generally higher than desired or suitable for high ear driving, or when the car is travellmgliy momentum or gravity. Accordingly the invention can be expressed by a reversal of the linkage systems above described as, for example, as shown by Fig. 4. In this form of the invention the, throttle crank 2 is normally urged toward its closed position by the throttle spring 26 connected to the existing throttle operating rod 27 and its closed position is determined by a set screw'28 carried by a lever 29. This lever plays between two limit screws 30 and 31, fixed on the carburetor, being urged to the left by a spring 32 and connected by a flexible link connection 33 to a bell crank 34 on the gear set 9. When the latter is put in its high gear position, as indicated in this figure, the shifter bar 10" moving forward rocks the bell crank to pull the lever 29 to the right and against the limit screw 30. In this position the throttle, when released by the driver will close by the infiuence of the spring 26 to that position corresponding with the lowest engine speed suitable for driving the car in high gear, that is to say to the lowest of two minimum limits. As soon as the car is placed in some other gear, the spring 32 acts to swing the lever 29 against the opposite limit screw 31, thereby automatically slightly opening the throttle to that position which corresponds with the higher engine speed required for starting, etc., that is to say, to the higher of two minimum limits. It may be observed that in this form, when the car is in neutral setting, the idling speed of 'the engine may b somewhat higher than necessary to keep it in motion, but this is not objectionable inasmuch as a fast idle is often sesame 3 shown in the drawings is largely diagrammatic for illustrating the principles of the invention which can be variously embodied to produce the several efiects stated 5 I claim:

1. In an automobile the combination vvith the engine and its change speedmechanism, of manuall controlled fuel supply means for establis ing a minimum limit to the engine speed when connected in high gear and automatic means for preventing the operation of the manual means to establish said. limit on the engine speed when connected in lower gear and adapted to establish a higher minimum limit at such time.

2. In an automobile, the combination of the propelling en ine, fuel supply means and a drivers contro therefor, a s ring for reducing the fuel supply when t e control is released by the driver, means operative when said spring is efiective to establish a rate of supply corresponding to normal idling,

change speed transmission mechanism operable by the driver and a clutch pedal adapted to prevent reduction of the fuel supply to a oint corres onding tonormal idling, said unction of the pedal being controlled by the transmission mechanism.

3. In an automobile, the combination of a propelling engine, an operators control comprising a clutch pedal, an idling adjustment device normally active to establish a predetermined minimum on 'ne speed, means for varying the engine spe above such limit including an element movable out of and into the path of the clutch pedal, for operation thereby, and a second operators control for moving said element. 4. In an automobile, the combination with a propelling engine and variable speed transmission, means for varying the engine speed comprising a fuel valve and operatm mechanism therefor including a clutch pe a1 and a transmission control lever movable to render said mechanism operable 'or inoperable by the clutch pedal.

5. In an automobile, the combinationof an engine and fuel supply means, change speed transmission mec amsm and an opera. ators control member therefor, a clutch and a pedal for controlling the same, said mechanism havin a fuel supply control associated therewith and correlated to said pedal to increase the fuel supply and engine speed, during manipulation of said pedal to close the clutch, according to the setting of said member.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification. 2 JOHN soon. 

